Lawmakers: Fauci Said He ‘Did Not Recall’ over 100 Times During Testimony

Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to accusations by Sen. Rand Paul,
J. Scott Applewhite-Pool/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Dr. Anthony Fauci claimed to not recall details surrounding “pertinent COVID-19 information or conversations” more than 100 times during his Monday testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Fauci participated in the closed-door hearing Monday, which reportedly focused on what committee chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) described as “pandemic-era” failures. The first session uncovered what lawmakers described as “drastic and systemic failures in America’s public health systems.”

“Dr. Fauci claimed he ‘did not recall’ pertinent COVID-19 information or conversations more than 100 times” during the hearing, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic said in a thread summarizing the day’s event on X.

And, as he did in previous testimonies before lawmakers, Fauci continued to defend his position that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) does not fund gain-of-function research, despite evidence pointing to the contrary.

FLASHBACK — Rand Paul Grills Fauci on Gain of Function: You Changed the Definition to “Cover Your Ass”:

Senate HELP Committee

“Today, he repeatedly played semantics with the definition of gain-of-function in an attempt to avoid conceding that NIH funded this dangerous research,” the committee wrote, adding that Fauci admitted to signing off on “every foreign and domestic [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] NIAID grant without reviewing the proposals.”

“Dr. Fauci was unable to confirm if NIAID has ANY mechanisms to conduct oversight of the foreign laboratories they fund,” the committee continued:

Wenstrup said in a statement that Fauci’s testimony made it abundantly clear the former NIAID chief had “no idea what was happening under his own jurisdiction at NIAID.”

“Clearly, the American people and the United States government are operating with completely different expectations about the responsibilities of our public health leaders and the accountability of our public health agencies,” he said, emphasizing how concerning it is that the “face of our nation’s response” to the coronavirus pandemic “‘does not recall’ key details about COVID-19 origins and pandemic-era policies.”

Wenstrup said he will question Fauci further about mandates, lockdowns, and masks during Tuesday’s closed-door session:

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